VOA Update on Afghanistan
US President Expected to Announce Afghanistan Policy Tuesday – Voice of America.
US President Barack Obama will announce his new strategy for Afghanistan on Tuesday. The White House says the president will make his plans known in an evening address (0100 UTC) from the US military academy at West Point, in the northeastern state of New York. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs announced President Obama’s plans Wednesday. Gibbs noted that US forces have been in Afghanistan for eight years. He said the US will not be in the country for another 8 or 9 years. The White House spokesman also said President Obama will reveal his Afghanistan strategy to members of the US Congress Tuesday, ahead of his address to the nation.
US news organizations say President Obama is most likely to back a plan to send between 30,000 and 35,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan. The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal earlier this year told the president that up to 40,000 additional troops are needed to combat Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the region. President Obama has been meeting with advisors and considering future US strategy in the region. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama said he intends to “finish the job” in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates are expected to testify before congressional committees in the days after Mr. Obama’s announcement.
Public opinion polls in the United States show falling support for the eight-year war, but Mr. Obama said that once people understand his plan, they will be supportive. This year has been the deadliest for foreign forces in Afghanistan since the conflict began eight years ago. There are currently 68,000 US troops in the country. Britain earlier announced plans to send an additional 500 troops to Afghanistan if allies increased their contributions. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday the prime minister is optimistic that 10 other NATO allies will offer an additional 5,000 troops for the mission.
US Troops Experiment with New Strategy for Afghanistan – David Axe, Voice of America.
US President Barack Obama plans to announce his new strategy for Afghanistan on Tuesday, and US news organizations say he will most likely send between 30,000 and 35,000 additional troops. The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan earlier this year told the president that up to 40,000 additional troops are needed to combat Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the region. If General McChrystal does not get all of the troops that he seeks, US commanders are already trying to make do with fewer numbers. Soldiers from the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division patrol Baraki Barak district, in Logar province, 80 kilometers south of Kabul. Logar is a key agricultural province and a test case for US troops now in Afghanistan in case President Barack Obama does not approve thousands of reinforcements.
The senior US officer in Logar, Army Lt. Col. Thomas Gukeisen, tells Voice of America that he does not have enough soldiers to control all of the province, even with the help of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP). Instead, he uses the troops that he has to occupy the most cooperative villages, and turn them into examples for neighboring villages to follow. The troops provide a security bubble for reconstruction projects in the targeted communities. “Outside of that bubble, you create dislocated envy,” said Colonel Gukeisen. “You have people outside – the elders and children – say well how come my school wasn’t fixed. For instance, one village, Shamazar, came forward and said we want this. We said, ‘Well, you’ve had 18 IEDs in your village and outside your village. We know you know who’s doing it. You’re not telling us.'” The idea is for the Afghan communities to police themselves, in order to qualify for reconstruction projects.
The aim is to extend security beyond the US-controlled villages. One of Colonel Gukeisen’s platoons met recently with farmers in Ibed. “We’re conducting agricultural and veterinary surveys for locals in the village of Ibed, outside the security bubble, in hopes of enticing some farmers to come to the district center – and, if they do, it will give us a chance to show that these are services that ourselves in conjunction with the ANA can provide to them. Hopefully we can turn them into a pro-coalition village,” explained Army 1st Lieutenant Sean Mahard. Colonel Gukeisen’s says the approach worked before.
In Iraq four years ago, a small number of US Marines were able to spread security across most of the country’s west, by first concentrating in the most pro-American communities. They called their approach, the “ink-spot” strategy. But Afghanistan is not Iraq, and it is not clear that ink spots will work the same way here. For one, Afghanistan is a bigger and more rugged country. Plus, the Taliban have a say. And in Logar, as elsewhere in Afghanistan, major violence often disrupts US plans.
Afghan Taliban Chief Rejects Talks With Government – Voice of America.
A statement attributed to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is again rejecting a call for peace talks aimed at ending the country’s eight-year-old war. Last week, President Hamid Karzai used his inauguration speech to repeat an appeal for talks with militants. In a statement published on a Taliban Web site Wednesday, the reclusive militant leader says he will never agree to talks that prolong the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Omar has long held to a policy that rejects any negotiations before foreign soldiers leave. Omar also takes aim at the United States as President Barack Obama prepares to unveil a new Afghanistan strategy that may include sending thousands of additional US troops to the region.In a section addressed to the American public and its political leaders, Omar says the United States and its allies will face failure and the “defeat” can not be “averted by reinforcements.” He calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops. US and Afghan leaders have called for negotiations with Taliban militants who are not linked to al Qaida, and are —to abandon violence and enter the political process.
Some militants have accepted the proposal and joined government forces, but no major Taliban factions have endorsed holding talks. Omar also called on militants to avoid causing civilian deaths when attacking Afghan and foreign troops. Taliban bombs often kill civilians and US officials say the militants frequently use innocent people as human shields. Mullah Omar has been in hiding since the US-led invasion in 2001, but he periodically releases written statements that encourage his followers and vilify the Afghan government and foreign troops. Also Wednesday, the Danish army says one of its soldiers was killed by an explosive device Wednesday while on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan. Denmark has lost 28 soldiers since it joined coalition forces in the region about seven years ago.